An autonomous robot successfully performed soft-tissue surgery for the first time this year. While the idea of having a robot doctor might scare you, scientists say it could be safer than having a human doctor.

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Photos:AI: The dangers and possibilities of autonomous machines

In July this year, a "robocop" called Knightscope K5 knocked down a 16-month-old baby when patrolling a shopping mall in Palo Alto. "The robocop wasn't equipped to detect the child's cries -- a cue that would indicate an ethical violation," AI expert Colin Allen tells CNN.

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Photos:AI: The dangers and possibilities of autonomous machines

The first fatal crash involving a self-driving vehicle occurred on May 7 this year. With an estimated ten million self-driving cars set to roam North Amerian streets in under four years, how cars make decisions in life-and-death situations is becoming an increasingly important question.

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Photos:AI: The dangers and possibilities of autonomous machines

Rolls-Royce unveiled its first driverless vehicle in June this year, a concept car with no steering wheel but a virtual assistant named Eleanor. Owning company BMW's first autonomous car model, iNext, will hit the roads in 2021. It will be built to always protect human lives regardless of material damage, a spokesperson tells CNN, claiming computers make such decisions more efficiently than humans.

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Photos:AI: The dangers and possibilities of autonomous machines

"Humanity's position on this planet depends on its intelligence, so if our intelligence is exceeded, it's unlikely we will remain in charge of the planet," Musk has previously told CNN.

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Photos:AI: The dangers and possibilities of autonomous machines

Many AI units, such as the program AlphaGo which outsmarted the human GO world champion this year, learn by reinforcement learning. Once programmed with basic proficiency the program is set to play millions of games against itself, improving its original techniques by learning from experience.

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Photos:AI: The dangers and possibilities of autonomous machines

"We respond to autonomous machines in a very 'human way,' which makes it easy for programmers to manipulate us," Blay Whitby, whose doctorate tackles the social implications of AI," says.